Sling settee



July 28, 1970 K. F. NISSEN 3,521,928

SLING SETTEE Filed June 27, 1968 2 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR KE/ T// F. N/ssc/v ATTORNEY K. F. NISSEN July 28, 1970 SLING SETTEE 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed June 27, 1968 INVENTOR KEITH F N/ssE/v ATTORNEY 3,521,928 SLING SETTEE Keith F. Nissen, 503 Galer St., Seattle, Wash. 98109 Filed June 27, 1968, Ser. No. 740,663 Int. Cl. A47c 4/02 U.S. Cl. 297-441 ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A settee frame includes spaced fore-and-aft base bars threaded on front and rear spacer bars, an upper rear rail carried by upwardly divergent struts inclined upwardly and rearwardly from the rear portions of the base bars, a lower front rail supported by upwardly divergent struts inclined forwardly and upwardly from forward portions of the base bars, and side struts inclined forwardly and downwardly and connecting the opposite end portions respectively of the upper rear rail and the lower front rail. Chain cushion seat slings hang between the upper rear rail and the lower front rail and are held with their back and seat portions in angular relationship by straps connecting the rear spacer bar of the frame base and a bar cradled by the chain cushion sling or slings between the adjacent seat and back cushions.

A principal purpose of the present invention is to provide a settee which is attractive and comfortable, yet which is inexpensive because it can be manufactured from prefabricated components. In fact, it can be sold in kit form, such as by mail-order houses, and even can be of knockdown construction so that it not only can be assembled readily, but also can be disassembled for economical and convenient transportation or storage.

Another object is to provide such a settee which can be assembled quickly and, if desired, permanently, or which can be constructed so that it is readily demountable.

It is also an object to provide such a settee which is light and strong because its components are subjected to minimum bending forces, yet which is rigid. Moreover, the structural components of the frame can be designed for greater or lesser strength, depending upon the severity of the conditions of use to which it may be subjected. Thus, the components may readily be made of different size or of different materials, such as wood or metal, depending upon the nature of the expected use. Moreover, the number of supporting elements may be altered, depending upon the strength and stiffness desired.

A further object is to provide a structure for a settee which can readily be designed of any desired length, width and height, depending upon the wishes of a customer.

Because the frame and the seat elements are separate components of the settee, such components can readily be supplied in different combinations of color and quality to suit the tastes of various customers.

FIG. 1 is a plan of the sling settee with parts broken away and FIG. 2 is a rear elevation of the settee with parts broken away.

FIG. 3 is a transverse section through the settee taken on line 33 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a detail section through a portion of the settee base on line 44 of FIG. 1, parts being broken away. FIG. 5 is an enlarged detail elevation of a portion of the settee frame structure, parts of which are broken away.

While the sling settee of the present invention is of economical construction, it is structurally efiicient and rugged and, at the same time, it is attractive and modern in style. Moreover, the settee is comfortable and can be ofl ered in various sizes and styles, such as of different lengths, having a wide or narrow seat, and a high or low United States Patent 2 Claims 'back. It will be understood, therefore, that the proportions of the settee shown in the drawings are merely illustrative.

The settee is composed of two principal components, namely, the frame and the sling seat. The base of the frame is constructed of a front spacer 'bar 1 and a rear spacer bar 2 which are threaded through apertures in spaced pairs of bars 3 and 4 extending fore and aft. In order to enable the spacer bars to be threaded through the fore-and-aft bars, such fore-and-aft bars are of larger cross section than the spacer bars. Also, while the foreand-aft bars 3 and 4 are shown as being of cylindrical shape, they could be of square or other shape of cross section. Two pairs of such fore-and-aft bars are shown, but any number of pairs of such bars could be provided, depending upon the length of the settee and the strength of its structure desired. Also, if of sufiicient size and proper shape, a single fore-and-aft bar could be substituted for each pair of such bars.

The settee frame further includes a lower front rail 5 and an upper rear rail 6 which are supported from the base. The lower front rail is supported by upwardly divergent struts 7 and 8, the lower ends of which are anchored in the forward portions of the fore-and-aft base bars 3 and 4, respectively, as shown in FIGS. 1, 2 and 3. Such struts, as shown in FIG. 3, are inclined forwardly and upwardly. The upper rear rail 6 is supported from the base by upwardly divergent struts 9 and 10, the lower ends of which are secured in the rear portions of the base bars 3 and 4, respectively, as shown in FIGS. 1, 2 and 3. FIG. 3 shows that such struts are inclined upwardly and rearwardly from the base bars so that the forward struts and the rearward struts diverge upwardly.

The spacing between the upper ends of the struts 7 and '8 and the upper ends of the struts 9 and 10 should be suflicient so that endwise swinging of the rails 5 and 6 will be prevented. Moreover, the upper and lower rails will be held in definitely spaced parallel relationship by the side struts or ties 11 which are located near the opposite ends of such rails, respectively, interconnect such rails and are inclined forwardly and downwardly from the upper rear rail 6 to the lower front rail 5, as shown in FIG. 3. While such members constitute ties when the settee is not subjected to a sitting load, the stress in these members may at times be tensile and at other times compressive, depending upon the sitting loads to which the settee is subjected, and other design factors. In any case, such members are capable of transmitting either tensile or compressive stresses between the upper rear rail and the lower front rail;

From the upper rear rail 6 and the lower front rail 5 of the settee frame described above is hung one or more seat slings 12. Such slings preferably are in the form of chain cushions, having the cushion protuberances 13 on the upper side of the sling, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 3. Such cushion protuberances can be of any desired extent lengthwise of the sling. As illustrated in FIG. 3, the seat portion of the sling includes two such cushion protuberances and the back portion of the sling includes three such cushion protuberances. Each of these sections may, however, have more or fewer protuberances and the member of cushion protuberances may be different depending upon the desires of a particular customer. It is, however, preferred that a groove between cushion protuberances be provided between the seat section and the back section of the sling. Also, the extent of the sling lengthwise of the frame can be altered, but in the construction illustrated it is contemplated that three individual slings would be provided, one for each seating position of the settee.

The upper and lower ends of the seat slings are supported from the upper rail 6 and the lower rail 5, respectively. While the sling ends can be secured to the rails in any suitable fashion, such as by upholsterers tacks or clamping strips, it is preferred that each end of each sling be formed as a loop through which a rail can be threaded. Thus, FIGS. 1 and 3 show the lower ends of the seat slings as having loops 14 through which the lower rail 5 is threaded and the upper ends of such slings have loops through which the upper rails 6 are threaded. Such loops are formed in the webbing on which the cushion protuberances 13 are mounted. A stretch 16 of such webbing is provided between the adjacent seat and back cushion protuberances, which webbing stretch has in its apertures 17 spaced lengthwise of the settee as shown at the left of FIG. 2.

A bar 18 may be cradled by the Webbing strips 16 between the adjacent seat and back cushion protuberances and such bar may extend the full length of the settee, as shown in FIG. 2. Alternatively, such bar could be provided in sections, each of a length to extend across one of the slings 12. If such individual bar sections are used, such bar sections should be secured to their individual slings so that each bar section will extend across the apertures 17 in the webbing stretch 16. Straps 19 extend through such webbing apertures and around the bar 18 to connect it to the rear spacer bar 2 of the base. The opposite ends of straps 19 can be looped and the base bar 2 and bar 18 can be threaded through such loops or each entire strap 19 can be a loop in itself, as shown in FIG. 3. In either case the eifective length of each strap 19 can be adjustable if desired to control the hang of the sling.

While the various elements 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11 have been designated above as bars, such elements have been illustrated in the drawings as being cylindrical rods and such shape is preferred, although not essential. 'Of these elements the stresses in bars or rods 1, 2, 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11 will be principally lengthwise with a minimum of bending. Members 1, 2 and 11 will be subjected to comparatively little direct stress. Members 3 and 4 will carry principally side loads and a minimum of longitudinal loads. The load produced by persons sitting on the slings 12 will produce tension in such slings and bending in the rails 5 and 6, which stresses will be transmitted to the struts 7, 8, 9 and 10, principally in compression with a minimum of bending. The joints between the struts 7, 8, 9 and 10 and the lower base members and rails 5 and 6 should be such as to transmit end thrust forces. The joints between the spacer rods 1 and 2 and the base rods 3 and 4 should be capable of transmitting both endwise and transverse loads. Details of these rod connections are shown in FIGS. 4 and 5.

In FIG. 4 the rod 1 is shown as being threaded through holes 20, extending transversely through the base rods 3 and 4. If such rods are of wood, they can be connected together easily by screws 21 extending upward through the lower sides of the rods 3 and 4 into the spacer rod -1. Such screws will not only connect the spacer rod to the fore-and-aft rods, but will also prevent separation of the fore-and-aft rods 3 and 4. The lower ends of the struts 7, 8, 9 and 10 can also be anchored in through holes 22 in the fore-and-aft rods 3, as indicated in FIG. 5. The end of a strut such as that of strut bar 7 can be secured by a screw 23 which will expand a split sleeve 24 in a blind bore in the end of the strut, as shown in FIG. 5. The strut bar end should be slotted so that expansion of such sleeve, in turn, will expand the inserted end of the strut to bind it in the through bore of the foreand-aft rod 3. The upper ends of the struts can be inserted into sockets 25 in the undersides of the rails 5 and 6. Such sockets can be tapered to receive frusto-conical ends 26 of the struts. Because the loads from the rails to the struts are always in compression, it is not necessary to bond the plug ends 26 of the struts to the sockets 25, in which case the components of the settee frame will be readily demountable. Alternatively, such strut plug ends and sockets can be glued or otherwise bonded in place, if it is desired to connect these components permanently.

In assembling the settee the lower front rail 5 will first be slid through the loops 14 of the slings 12- until they are located in the proper relationship relative to the holes for receiving the struts 7 and 8. Next, the struts 7 and 8 will be secured in the rail 5 and the fore-and-aft bars 3 and 4. The upper rear rail 6 can be inserted through the loops in the upper ends of the slings 12 followed by insertion of the rods 9, 10 and 11 into their sockets in the upper rear rail, the lower front rail and the fore-and-aft bars 3 and 4. The spacer rods 1 and 2 can now be threaded through the holes in the fore-and-aft bars 3 and 4 and the hold-down loops 19. Finally, the rod 18 can be cradled in the Webbing of the slings between their seat and back portions and threaded through the hold-down straps 19 to complete the settee.

I claim:

1. A sling settee comprising base means, an upper rear rail, a lower front rail, supporting means supporting said upper rear rail and said lower front rail from said base means and including divergent strut bars extending between one of said rails and said base means, and sling seat means carried by and hung between said upper rear rail and said lower front rail and including chain cushion means having a seat section and a back section.

2. A sling settee comprising a plurality of elongated base means having their lengths extending fore and aft, front and rear spacer bars connecting said fore-and-aft base means, an upper rear rail, a pair of upwardly divergent struts extending upwardly and rearwardly from the rear portion of each of said base means and supporting'said upper rear rail, a lower front rail, a pair of upwardly divergent struts extending upwardly and forwardly from the forward portion of each of said base means and supporting said lower front rail, side bars spaced lengthwise of said upper rear rail and said lower front rail and extending between and interconnecting said rails, and sling seat means carried by and hung between said upper rear rail and said lower front rail.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,785,734 3/1957 Hasth 297441 3,123,395 3/1964 Glass 297457 X 3,387,887 6/ 1968 Jakobsen 297445 3,379,474 4/ 1968 Schwarz 297445 CASMIR A. NUNBERG, Primary Examiner U.S. Cl. X.R. 297445, 457 

